When he was an assistant football coach at Holy Cross, Richard Rodgers tried to recruit a couple of California kids he had seen on film, knowing he had little chance to convince them to come to his quaint Massachusetts school.

"It was worth a shot," he said.

Heck, he couldn't even get his own son to play for him.

It's not that Rodgers was a lousy recruiter. It's just that his son and the two California kids decided to take their talents to Cal, where they joined up with two other players to form what could be called the Legacy Five.

On this current Cal team are five players whose fathers also played for the school, creating more of a family affair than coach Jeff Tedford has had before in his tenure in Berkeley.

Rodgers' son, sophomore Richard Rodgers, has been called by Tedford the best tight end in the country even though he has yet to catch his first pass in college. Yes, the elder Rodgers is the Richard Rodgers of 1982's The Play fame.

The California kids whom the elder Rodgers entertained flights of fancy over are freshman wide receiver Bryce Treggs, whose father Brian Treggs was also a receiver; and freshman linebacker Hardy Nickerson, son of one of the greatest linebackers in Cal history, Big Hardy to his son's Little Hardy.

Junior Jackson Bouza is, like his dad Matt Bouza, a wide receiver who began his career at Berkeley as a walk-on. Similarly, senior Dominic Galas is an offensive lineman like his father, Tim Galas, before him.

"It's the first time we've had so many like that," Tedford said. "There's a sense of pride there for the fathers who come out to watch practice. All the kids have worked very hard. I'm sure the kids will tell you they have a sense of pride not only that their dads played here but they're carrying on (the tradition)."

When Cal opened its fall camp Aug. 4, the elder Nickerson and elder Treggs strolled the sideline at Witter Rugby Field watching their sons go through the same drills they had years before. Matt Bouza and Tim Galas have also been practice spectators, with vested interests.

Only the senior Rodgers, a coaching lifer at 50, has been unable to check out his baby boy at practice, although he saw him suit up for the Arizona State game in Tempe last season.

"It was special for me to see him up close in a Cal uniform," the elder Rodgers said.

Like father, unlike son

The younger Rodgers is the only one of the Legacy Five who does not play the same position as dear old dad did. At 6-foot-4 and 270 pounds, Rodgers far outgrew the dimensions of his defensive back father.

"We knew he wasn't going to be a small kid. He was 12 pounds at birth," said Richard Sr., now assistant special teams coach with the Carolina Panthers. "He has a nickname of Biggie, which we called him from birth. Now he's Richard, and I'm left with 'Richard's dad.' He's a special kid."

The elder Rodgers played a special role on Nov. 20, 1982, in the Big Game against Stanford on the Bears' fateful final kickoff return that won the game, 25-20. He handled the ball twice on laterals, receiving the first one from Kevin Moen and pitching the penultimate fourth to Mariet Ford to set up Moen's touchdown.

"I've seen it a lot of times," Richard Jr. said. "He doesn't really talk about it much. He laughs whenever it comes on. We saw it all the time growing up, but we didn't know how big it was until we got here. It's fun to see how much it means when you get older."

Rodgers earned the starting tight end job in training camp and is poised for a productive season in the passing game as the Bears try to give defenses something else to think about other than wide receiver Keenan Allen. The first pass Rodgers catches this season, probably Sept. 1 against Nevada, will be the first of his college career.

It's a little fortuitous that Rodgers ended up at Cal, as his favorite schools growing up in Worcester, Mass., were Oregon and Notre Dame. But when he came out to California to visit his mother one summer, then-Cal assistant (and current Washington assistant) Tosh Lupoi persuaded him to consider Berkeley.

"I actually wasn't really thinking about Cal until I came out in the summer to visit my mom and coach Lupoi talked to me," Rodgers Jr. said. "I walked around campus and liked what I saw. In the end I liked the family aspect of Cal."

Son of Hardware Man

When the elder Nickerson played for Cal from 1983-86, a school publicist assigned him the nickname "Hardware Man," meaning he had a tool for every job and brought them all to work. A 16-year career in the NFL is testament to the kind of player he was.

"Some people still call him 'Hardware,' " the younger Nickerson said.

His dad traded his tools for a conductor's wand in the 1986 Big Game when Cal defeated Stanford 17-11 in an upset. Nickerson climbed the ladder in Memorial Stadium and made the exaggerated gestures of a conductor to the Cal Band.

"We've got that one framed," said the senior Nickerson, now head football coach at Bishop O'Dowd High in Oakland. "It travels with me all over the place. Stanford was ranked, we had a bad season and they were supposed to roll all over us."

The younger Nickerson is a little smaller than his father was playing the same position and is part of a deep corps of linebackers on this year's team, wearing the same jersey number, 47, that his father did. He considered Nebraska and Colorado before staying home to attend school.

"When I got the offer, I took some time and I chose this place because it's the best place for me, not because of my dad," Nickerson said.

Now that he's at Cal and on a team with four other players whose fathers preceded them in Berkeley, he said, "I think it's great. It keeps that tradition going that all our dads went here. They've been telling us those stories on their glory days. Now we're here. It's crazy."

As a senior at O'Dowd last season, Nickerson was coached by his father. He had 153 tackles, one sack, one interception, played in two postseason games and was named All-State by two services.

"He's very smart and instinctive," Coach Nickerson said of his son. "He's as tough as they come. He will hit. He's fundamentally sound and does everything well."

Looking to surpass dad

Like young Hardy Nickerson, Bryce Treggs was coached by his father in high school, at St. John Bosco in Inglewood (Los Angeles County); Brian Treggs was his receivers coach. Now that he's at Cal, the son wants to surpass what his father did at Cal, which was considerable.

From 1988-91, Brian Treggs had 167 receptions for 2,335 yards and 15 touchdowns while averaging 14.0 yards per catch. Bryce Treggs is "a lot faster," than his father, according to his father.

"I'm going to have to break them," Bryce Treggs said of his father's totals. "Right now, I would say I'm in my dad's shadow. When I break his records I won't be known as Brian Treggs' son. I'll stand alone. I bring a lot of confidence and swagger to the game."

As well as a sense of commitment. At the end of a recruiting period in January thrown into upheaval when defensive line coach Lupoi bolted for Washington, Treggs remained firm in his commitment to Cal while several other top recruits went elsewhere.

"I wanted to be loyal to my future coaches and future teammates," Treggs said. "I made a verbal commitment to the school, not one particular coach. I wanted to be a man of my word."

Treggs has excelled in training camp and seems likely to play as a true freshman, as his father did 24 years earlier.

"I had a great experience at Cal," Brian Treggs said. "For him to commit and want to go to Cal made me extremely proud. If his experience is anything like mine, he'll have a great time ... and get his degree from Berkeley. That was the most important thing, to get your degree."

Another thing this father would like to see his son accomplish is a victory over Stanford. Brian Treggs was 0-3-1 in the Big Game.

Following in footsteps

In 1978, Matt Bouza came to Cal as a walk-on player from Carmichael (Sacramento County) and eventually earned a scholarship before playing nine years in the NFL. In 2009, Jackson Bouza came to Cal as a walk-on from Lafayette after a high school career at powerhouse De La Salle-Concord.

Now a junior with three career receptions, Bouza hoped to do as his father had done and earn a scholarship. With a productive training camp, the younger Bouza did just that, as Tedford informed him last week he was being rewarded with a scholarship.

"To be honest, I didn't really have options out of high school," Jackson Bouza said. "I had one offer from Sacramento State. The offer to come to Cal came really late to walk on here. It was pretty much a no-brainer. I wanted to come here and take the hard road and see what I can do."

After Cal, Matt Bouza had an NFL career in which he was both a Baltimore Colt and an Indianapolis Colt following a cup of coffee with the 49ers in 1981. Since retiring from the game, he's been involved in medical sales for 20 years.

Watching his son at practice one day, Matt Bouza said, "It's almost too good to be true. As a father, it's the pinnacle. He faces the same challenges as I did as a walk-on. I can give him some insight on that. Coach Tedford gave him an opportunity, and he's enjoying his experience here."

Senior year gone awry

Dominic Galas was Cal's starting center last year, making a transition to guard as a senior. He was the starter at right guard coming out of spring drills, but a torn pectoral muscle shortly before fall camp derailed his season; Galas is not expected back until October at the earliest.

"That hit me hard, when you see him work so hard all this year," Tim Galas said of his son. He had been looking forward to seeing his son finish off his Cal career as a starter.

A Galas will be starting in the opener Sept. 1 when Cal plays Nevada, however, as sophomore Matthew Galas - Tim's son and Dominic's brother - is the Wolfpack's starting center.

"I will definitely be at the first game, even though it's the opener of dove season," Tim Galas said.

For 25 years, Galas has been a game warden with the California Department of Fish and Game, with much of his time devoted to catching poachers in the San Joaquin Valley.

"Without us, it would be a big free-for-all," he said.

Tim Galas played at Cal from 1979-82 and was teammates with Matt Bouza. Of the Legacy Five, he said, "It may say something about our time there. If it was bad or negative in any way, they probably wouldn't be there. As far as Dominic going to Cal, I totally 100 percent stayed out of his decision. I told him it's your decision."

It's a decision these five players made independent of each other but one forged in part by the experiences of their fathers. It's one thing for a coach to say his team is like a family. In Tedford's case, it truly is.